1865,J 243 



Deal. l. Msculif the parka in Loudon. L. aselUis, Epping. I believe this insect 

 is to be found over the whole extent of the forest. The male, which is almost black 

 in colour, flies swiftly along the ridings, and, in my experience, is never beaten out. 

 S. irrorella, Box Hill, getting worked out. L. helveola, Headley Lane, &c. E. 

 advenaria, Leith Hill. E. fasciaria, Box Hill. E. dolohraria, Epping, scarce. 

 B. dbieta/ria, Leith Hill, &c., many more seen than captured. Gf. ohscurata, under 

 the cliffs at Deal. A. ema/rginata, Leith Hill. C. temerata, Darenth. A. picta/ria, 

 getting scarce at Hainault. M. liturata, Leith Hill. F. conspicuata, Grays, scai'ce. 

 A. citraria. Deal. A. gilvaria, plentiful at Deal. E. nanata, St. Leonard's Forest. 

 E. absynthiaia, Darenth. E. dodoneMa, Epping. E. sohrinata, Headley Lane, &c. ; 

 comes freely to the flowers of the ragwort in the evening. E. lariciata, Leith Hill. 

 P. vitalhata, Darenth. E. lineolata, taken freely at Deal. P. lacertula, Darenth. 

 N. despecta, on rushes at Epping. N, fulva, Epping, never taken freely. N. typhw, 

 Grays, bred from pupee in the stems of Typha latifolia. H. nicHtans, freely to light 

 at Epping. N. neglecta, light variety, New Forest, in September. E. venustula, 

 very scarce the last three seasons. C. promissa, New Forest in September. 

 P. cenea, St. Leonard's Forest in April. H. crassalis, Leith Hill. A. jiexula, 

 Headley Lane, &c. C. angustalis, Box 'KiU. P. puniceaUs,B,eiga.te. P.purpuralis, 

 abundant at Pinner. B. hyalinalis, Reigate, rather abundant. P. ca/rnella, Box 

 Hill, scarce. P. palumhella, Epping, at dusk. C. gigantana, Deal. Ft. parvi- 

 dadylus, Box Hill. Ft. phceodactylus, Reigate. Ft. hipunctidactylus, Rufus' Stone, 

 New Forest. Ft. microdactyhis, Box Hill. — Battershell Gill, M.D., 5, Cambridge 

 Place, Regent's Park, N.W. 



Incredible Masses of Larvce. — Fully a mile from the Loughton Station, on the 

 left hand side of the road to Epping, upon somewhat lower ground than the sur- 

 rounding forest, stands a spacious grove of trees of considerable size, chiefly beech, 

 oak, and hornbeam, forming a densely canopied wood of several acres. 



Ajiproaching its skirts, last May, I was astonished to observe what appeared 

 to be long lines of cobwebs enshrouding every tree, but crossing and re-crossing 

 each other at angles, in length and arrangement unlike those of the Arachnida. 



Penetrating still further into the covert, and using my beating-stick to displace 

 these shreds of webbing, it was soon apparent that their silky lines depended from 

 the branches, swinging even more multitudinously beneath and within the grove 

 than on its confines. T presently perc^eived that the web had seemingly captured 

 nothing but a small larva,* — thousands and millions of which, wherever the eye 

 turned, were, with their peculiar wriggle, actively occupied in hauling, crawling, 

 twining, winding, and enshrining one another in mid-air, in such a vague, hopeless 

 tangle as no description can rcahze. And these countless acrobats I found 

 thus suspended, hterally from every limb in this very considerable and stately 

 plantation ; and it was a httlegale of a few hours previous which had enabled these 

 gi-and trees to shake them from their crowns. 



Soon, as I could look about, on the ground were noticeable little masses of 

 what seemed to be ladies' muslin handkerchiefs, which, on closer inspection, proved 

 to be colonies of these creatures who had seized upon some unfortunate fern-plants 

 in despair of re-gaining their more lofty thrones, and which, in an hour or two, they 

 had stripped to mere skeletons. Then, to my amazement, I discovered the entire 

 ground itself positively thick with caterpillars, moving hopelessly everywhere, over 



• The larva of Cheimatobia brumata. 



